Little Winged Ones… Hummingbirds In Flight
by ....RaeDi
Female Anna
(Be sure to double-click on the photo(s) and you will see an enlargement and all the details…)
I was sitting out on the back deck this morning. The sun was so bright and with a hot cup a tea in hand I was feeling pretty good. The past couple of weeks it finally seems like summer. More sun than clouds and rain.
As I sat there I was watching the little winged one play. I wonder what it would be like to have such energy, but I guess if my main diet was nectar I would be overly active too.
Female Anna and a Female Rufus in background
They stole my heart years ago, but living here at what we call Hummingbird Hollow has brought more than just entertainment from the little winged one. With it came a want to know more about them. I have spent the last dozen plus years watching, studying and being delighted in all there antics. I am in the process of doing the illustrations for a book I wrote called Midnight Nectar about the frolics, behaviors and lives of the little winged ones. I can honestly say there is never a dull moment here.
Female Anna
As I sat there I was spellbound by their aerial feats… I watched a Stellar Blue Jay come through, immediately the hummers gave chase. They stayed with this blue bird through the apple trees on to the plum trees and then into the thicket and back again. I am in awe as I watch them take on the bird that is over eleven inches long compared to their two-plus inch length. Their tenacity is not to be compared to anything that is their size. I have watched them take on cats, dogs, any bird and us two footers if we get to close to their nests or if their young are just out of the nest. They are very territorial and if you get within their terrain at any given time they just may let you know you need to leave.
However, if they know you they will come right up and check you out, some of ours look in our windows and watch us. We have noticed that if their feeder is low on nectar juice they will come and look at us through our windows until we check the feeder. They will at times watch us through the windows while we are getting a clean feeder, filling it and then meet us where we hang the feeder. At times they will follow us around the yard. They love to chat with us, they are very vocal in all ways. Generally they are easy to live with and are very amicable.
Male Anna
The Stellar Blue Jay is a very noisy bird; they have a lot to say and with such sass. They have a cheekiness… brazenness that is beyond compare to all winged ones no matter the size. With their young they are so vociferous, boisterous, bossy and overbearing. I feel sorry for them. I think they leave the nest as soon as possible. It does not take them anytime to be completely on their own and off to a whole new area to live. That is what I would do!
Male Anna
The Stellar Blue Jay are a beautiful bird, just a little overbearing at times. I tried to get a picture of one of them and they knew it and they made it very hard for me to get a good shot in. They are one of the reasons we do not do many bird feeders, they go through and knock all the seeds out so they can eat all of the sunflower seeds. They are pretty but have an arrogance that dulls their beauty.
Stellar Blue Jay
The sun was shining through the trees and every time I just got focused, the bird would take flight.
It did not want a picture taken!
This Female Rufus has decided to check me out – eye to eye!
I take hundreds of hummingbird shots. They are so fleeting it is not an easy task. I am learning, but to get the lighting right and have the camera set for high-super-sonic speed is a mission and a calling that I will not give up on. I have so many action shots; hummingbirds are almost always so full of life… highly active. I have given myself the challenge of taking action shots that are clear and precise and tell the viewer what is going on. That is not easy… I am going to share some of my ‘action shots’ that I have taken this summer. I hope you enjoy them and let me know what you think. I already know I have a long way to go, but I think I have gotten a good start….
Male Anna
Male Rufus – they make it almost impossible to get a picture of them!
Female Rufus
Male Anna
Female Rufus
Female Rufus
Male Anna
Female Rufus
Look… there are two Female Rufus Hummingbirds on the uptake!
Female Rufus
Young Rufus
Rufus Hummingbirds
Rufus Young ~ Hover, Reverse and Backwards Uplift! Amazing Little Winged Ones!
Two young Rufus Hummingbirds
Female Rufus
RaeDi at Hummingbird Hollow 
How fortunate you are to live amongst them – these are absolutely wonderful shots – thanks 🙂
Thank you for coming by and for your kind words. I do feel blessed to be living amongst them, there is always something going on! I am glad you liked the shots. I will be posting more action shots that I have taken over the past few months I hope you come and take a peak! ….RaeDi
A rufus! What great shots of the hummingbirds. Such brilliant colors. The last one of the two together is just exceptional!
Thank you for you kind words, the ‘Rufus Hummingbirds’ are my favorites, but I do not tell the others! They are so quick and smart too, I will be posting more over the next few weeks….RaeDi
Wow those are some amazing shots! I especially love the very first one!! Incredible!
Luv, M
Hello M… Thank you for stopping by and I am very pleased that you liked my hummingbird shots, they are amazing, and a little hard to capture in picture form! I will be posting more in the next few weeks, hope you feel up to coming by. LUV….RaeDi
What fantastic photos! I love the movement and color in them. I don’t see hummingbirds very often so this feels like quite a treat for the senses 🙂 Thanks for checking out my blog! I am excited to take a browse around yours as well, great pics and recipes are very enticing….
Thank you for coming by, they are sure special and I love to take photos of them, it shows how active they are and even their personalities! ….RaeDi
What a treat! I love hummingbirds, have only actually seen one in my life a long time ago. THANK YOU so much for sharing these amazing pics, and your story too of the many times you’ve enjoyed their “aerial feats” like that!
I can’t remember what state you are in, I deleted all the addresses after I sent out the prizes last week. Wherever you are, sounds like a little piece of heaven.
I hope you enjoy the muffins! A much loved recipe for many of my readers. Perhaps a post to follow here with photos? That would be nice too. No pressure though, I just thought of it, reading your comment at Veggies…
Hugs my dear, G 🙂
I am so glad that you enjoyed the pictures, they are so fun to watch and to photograph. We are very blessed to have so many, we live in Washington State at the tip of a peninsula, I have a few that winter over each year! I have shots of them out in the snow, I will be sharing hummingbird photos over the next few weeks….RaeDi
We will be having the muffins some time this week, plans got changed but looking forwards to them and will take a photo and post it!
What a great collection of hummingbird shots, RaeDi! They’re great. You’re most definitely blessed with the birds there!!
We have hummers in the Bahamas too. They’re fast (although one posed for me one day) and, usually, by the time I realize it wasn’t a big fat wasp buzzing b – they’re gone!
Thank you Dear, We have lots of the little winged ones. We have a few that winter over ever year with us. It amazes me how they can survive when we have a foot of snow out there. That is where my little botanical picture I use, I painted that when they were taking turns watching over their nectar, they were not going to let anything come near it, it was all they had to survive on! The picture is called “Anna’s Winter Watch.” ….RaeDi
Beautiful photos! Hummingbirds are amazing, in every way. I’m always amazed they migrate such distances and live to tell the story. 🙂 I just hope they’re finding their way through the scorched land in Arizona.
Thank you Lea Ann, they are amazing little winged ones that is for sure. In the spring if they have lots of rain that brings on lots of desert flowers the hummingbirds will get here a week or two late. I too wonder sometimes about the return home and through the desert that are so scorched by summers end. Thank you for coming by and I hope to see you again, I will be posting more hummingbird pictures in the next few weeks! ….RaeDi
Fantastic pics!!
I, too, love my hummers! I am surprised they are still here- although, I guess it stands to reason because it’s been unbearably hot this summer, and we’re still mid-90s…. I expect they’ll be leaving in the next few weeks. I nearly had a fit today as we discovered we were out of sugar!! We did manage to eek out a batch of nectar, but it’s off to the store for me tomorrow! I can’t let them run out….. 🙂
Cannot leave them without nectar! We know they have lots of flowers… but it is nice to have the nectar ready for them, they know it is there so it should be! ….RaeDi
Such a little creature, but lovely!
Thank you for stopping by and for your kind words….RaeDi
PS: We’re neighbours it seems! How nice to consider that. Send some of that feathery beauty up here to BC ok!
I have a ?? re: the bird photo in this post, can you write to me at:
mypoeticpath at myway .com
when you have a minute to spare. Thanks friend. I’ve lost your email address along the way. Too much on the go.
Hugs, G 🙂
Thanks, I’d love to send some of my beauty up your way! Write you tomorrow! ….RaeDi
First of all I have to congratulate you on the wonderful job you are doing with the photography..the pictures are truly breath taking…I spent a long time looking at the enlargement of the first one…amazing is an understatement…
You are really lucky to be surrounded by all this beauty 🙂
Thank you for your kind words, they are such little beauty, when I get a good action shot I study all the feathers and the colors and they are such wonderful little creatures! I know how lucky I am to have all this beauty around me! I will be posting some more action shots soon hope you have time to stop by….RaeDi
These are amazing photos. You seem to live in a dreamy place so refreshing compared to the concrete jungle I live in.
Thank you, I do live in a wonderful place and I love taking pictures of the little winged ones. You will not find that in your concrete jungle, although I have seen hummingbirds in several cities before, they seemed to be out of place. Thank you for stopping by and I will be posting more pictures soon of hummingbirds….RaeDi
Amazing pictures of hummingbirds! Put a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thanks so much for coming by and making a comment! They are amazing little creatures and they put a smile on my face all the time. They give us peace here… I will be posting some more active shots of the little winged ones and hope you have time to come by again…. RaeDi
Thanks so much for coming by and making a comment! They are amazing little creatures and they put a smile on my face all the time. They give us peace here… I will be posting some more active shots of the little winged ones and hope you have time to come by again…. RaeDi
Hi RaeDi – have been away (which was lovely!) and am now catching up and just had to come over and take a look at these amazing photos. You are very talented (and I am sure very patient) to have taken so many incredible shots of these beautiful birds. Very, very impressive!
Thank you Tanya, I am glad you are back and hope all was wonderful! Thank you for you kind words about my little hummers, I think if one looks at the pictures they can see I have a thing for the little winged ones and if there were not so many I would probably have them all named! They make it fun (and frustrating at times too!) I am so happy I could impress you! You are such a dear….RaeDi